The Black Sun

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As ever my thanks to my agents, Jonathan Lloyd and Euan Thorneycroft at Curtis Brown in London, and George Lucas at Inkwell Management in New York, for their hard work and insight.

Thank you also to my editors, Wayne Brookes and Alison Callahan, who, along with the whole sales, editorial, marketing, and creative team at HarperCollins in both the UK and the US, have continued to work wonders for me. This novel is a real testament to your combined skill and enthusiasm, and I feel incredibly privileged and fortunate to work with you all.

In researching this novel I owe a huge debt of gratitude to three excellent books: The Spoils of World War II, by Kenneth D. Alford; The Order of the Death's Head, by Heinz Hohne; and Berlin: The Downfall, 1945, by Antony Beevor. I would also like to acknowledge the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; the Kreismuseum Wewelsburg, Germany; the National Cryptologic Museum, Fort Meade, Maryland; and the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague.

Many people helped in the editing of this novel and in supporting me through the lonely months it took to write it, but special thanks go to Ann, Bob, and Joanna Twining; Roy, Claire, and Sarah Toft; Kate Gilmore; Jeremy Green; Anne O'Brien; Florian Reinaud; Nico Schwartz; Jeremy

Walton; Tom Weston; and, as ever, Rod Gillett. I am also indebted to the suggestions made by Adrian Loudermilk only a few days before he was tragically killed.

Victoria and Amelia, thank you for putting up with me. I love you. You make it all worthwhile.

London, October 2005